1

Copyright © MCMXCV, MMVI by Alfred MusicAll rights reserved

ISBN-10: 0-89724-921-6ISBN-13: 978-0-89724-921-8

4

CONTENTS

Nicholas Payton

David Torkanowsky

UP FROM CONGO SQUARE: New Orl,eans Drummers and Their Influence

RAGTIME & BEYOND: Berlin Riley

RAGTIME "High Society"

BRASS BANDS "Oh, Didn't He Ramble"

Warren "Baby" Dodds: Biff Shots and Shimmy Beats Paul Barbarin and Arthur "Zutty" Singleton

SPASM BANDS

THE HI-HAT

BRUSHES

GOSPEL "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"

JAZZ FUNERALS

"POINCIANA"

Vemel Fournier: Dancing in the Sixth Ward Edward Blackwell: The Drum and Dance are One

MODERN INFLUENCES "Magnolia Triangle"

fames Black and Freddie Kohlman by Val Wilmer In Search of James Black Herlin Riley: Live at the Village Vanguard, New York City Roll Call with Bassist Bill Huntington:

Reflections and Observations on New Orleans Drummers

6

10

12 14

16 22

24 27

28

29

30

31 34 34

37

40

42 so

53 54

62 66 70 72

5

Tony Dagradi

James Singleton

STREET BEATS: MODERN APPLICATIONS Johnny Vidacovich

SECOND LINE "Carnival"

SYNCOPATION EXERCISES

PROFESSOR LONGHAIR "Her Mind is Gone" "Big Chief"

Joseph "Smokey" Johnson: From Sugarboy to the Fatman

"OPEN SHUFFLE" FEEL "New Orleans Cakewalk"

INFLUENCES

David Lee: Evolution

"YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE "

"NEW DAY"

"BONGO JOE"

Johnny Vidacovich: Wide Open, WWOZ Jazz Tent, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

Photo Credits Index

75

76 80

83

87 88 92

94

98 99

101

103

106

108

112

114

116 11 7

12

RAGTIME

EVOLUTION OF THE "TRAPS" 1890-1920

·=staccato

RAGTIME

D.T.: You grew up in New Orleans, so you have a lot of different influences. If we can cover some of the earlier jazz styles, the music of the jazz fUnerals, some of the street beats, and some of your jazz influences, maybe we can trace some of your influences. H.R.: All right.

Let's begin with ragtime. Can you explain a little bit about the stylistic elements of the drumming of that period? The older musicians would say that to "rag" something is to syncopate it. For elements of surprise they would play breaks on the downbeats as well as on off-beats.

CD l RACI\ 2

So a lot of the rags had syncopated rhythms in them. And in playing rag, different parts of the drumset were used for playing time. They played time on the wood block, the rim of the drum, and they also used splash cymbals. A lot of times there would be a crash cymbal, or a choke cymbal as they called it, that was usually played with a mallet. They would strike the cymbal with one hand and choke it with the other hand. And there were different techniques used for choking the cymbals. Sometimes, they would really cut off the cymbal and make it real staccato, like this:

CD 1 RACI'\ o

Or they would play other styles where they would let the cymbal ring a little bit and sustain itself, and then catch it:

CDTRACK4

I j j i1 I j j j j I j ' II 0 c 0 c 0 c 0 cococo c 0 cocococo c 0 c 0 c

o=open c = close with hand

So if they let it sustain, would that be used more for time playing, and the "chokes" for accents? Well, I think it was just a matter of how they wanted to color the music at that particular spot by getting different nuances out of a certain part of the kit.

20

TRAPS

On woodblock

frJ o I - i:J

R RR

J tJ R RL

LR

So what would be some of the typical patterns that would be played? OK, a lot of times there would be typical march patterns that they would play on the wood block-

CD lRACf\ 13

nJ J is J J J 13 t ! . '-' ...... i -LLR L R L R L R R RRL L R L R L R L R

> > > > >

m J n_ J frJ = II LLR L R L R L R R RRL R L R L R R R L R L LR

They would also play on the rim of the drums and back then, the rims or hoops were wood. So that produced a different kind of sound, it was a little softer than the wood block. I'll give you an example on these metal rims:

CD 1 RACf\ 14

>- :::> :::> > >- >- ::> :::::>

DI fr:n J j j JfrJ j j Jfrm 5 J JfrJ j JfrJ j JfrJ j j Jfrm 5

> > > > 5 > 9 5

J frJ ]: J ! J tj frJ 1 - - -R RRL L RLL R LLR L R LLR L R R R LR L

> > > > >

J js j J 15 J J J nJ - =

R RRL L R R R R LLR L R L R R R L R R L R L R LLR LLR LLR

> 9 > 9 > 9

J ! J t J 1 J II 8 -- -- * R L R L R R L R L R R L R L R R